Shipping Up to Boston

The Yankees are taking their first road trip this weekend to Fenway Park for the Red Sox home opener.  After the first week of games, the Yankees are 4-2 winning 2 series against the Tigers & Twins.  The Red Sox who were touted to be the best team in MLB for 2011, have had a terrible start and have lost every game they have played so far.  (It's the curse of Sports Illustrated predicting they would win the World Series)   But now they are going back home for an 11 Day homestand.  I'm sure with their poor start they are itching to play in Boston.... it should make for an interesting series!


The Yankees have overall looked pretty solid.  They are hitting the ball well especially for power, and the pitching has been everything they were hoping for.  The Yankees are 463-446-4 against Boston in Fenway, all time.

I just couldn't resist throwing this pic in!  Still my favorite game!

The Red Sox have looked awful.  This season they are 7-44 with runners in scoring position, and have only scored 16 runs in their last 6 games.  They are coming off their road trip in Texas and Cleveland, back to Fenway.  Boston hasn't been swept by the Indians since August of 2001!


In the offseason, Boston lost their catcher, Victor Martinez to free agency.   This was quite a gamble for the Red Sox as they were left with the aging Jason Varitek and Jarred Saltalamacchia as the starting catcher.  Saltalamacchia has had a very poor start to the season.  In his first three games of the season, he went 0-10 with 5 strikeouts.  He is batting .071 over the last 6 games.  He swings at Everything!  Saltalamacchia has not been much better behind the plate either.  He caught Lester's first appearance against the Rangers, when Lester allowed 5 ER over 5 innings without one strikeout.  He wasn't much help to Lackey either in game two when Lackey allowed 9 runs over 3 innings.  This was followed up by Buchholz's game when he allowed 4 runs over 6 innings.  Of course it comes down to the pitchers, but I believe that if Varitek was behind the plate things wouldn't gotten so out of hand.

The Red Sox did make some good moves this offseason by aquiring Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.  Crawford was a great pickup for left field.  He is a quality outfielder who is only 29 years old, and left field in Fenway is small to begin with.  He should have no problems adapting to the new ballpark.  Although Crawford is off to a slow offensive start, his 2010 numbers are impressive.  He had a .307 batting average with a .495 slugging percentage, driving in 19 HR's with Tampa.

Adrian Gonzalez helps fill the middle of Boston's batting order as the cleanup hitter.  His numbers for 2010 are impressive as well.  Gonzalez hit .298 last season driving in 31 home runs with a .511 slugging percentage. 








 Pitching Matchups


Friday (2PM Game): Phil Hughes vs John Lackey

 -This should prove to be a good matchup for Hughes who is coming off a tough start.  Hughes only lasted 4 innings giving up 5 runs on 5 hits.  Hughes' velocity was down which should be a concern going into Fenway.  Fortunately, Lackey is coming off an even worse start.

-The middle of Boston's order could have a field day with Hughes if he isn't sharp today.  Hughes gives up a lot of home runs, and both Crawford, Gonzalez, Youkilis and Ortiz are home run threats.


-In Lackey's start he allowed 9 runs on 10 hits against the Rangers.  He only lasted 3 and 2/3 innings.  He looked terrible and paid for it.



Saturday:  Ivan Nova vs Bucholz


Sunday:  CC Sabathia vs Josh Beckett


Side Notes

Yankees skipped Freddy Garcia's start after the rain out Thursday.  Garcia won't pitch again until April 15 against the Rangers.  His last start was the final spring training game.


The Yankees played the Red Sox on Opening Day last season in Fenway.  The Yankees loss that day taking a 9-7 loss by Chan Ho Park.  The Yankees came back to win the next two games.  Chan Ho Park redeemed himself getting the win in Game 3 of that series.

QUICK UPDATE @ 12:30PM

The Red Sox just activated Felix Doubront from the disabled list for today's game.  They have released Denny Reyes.  Both are left handed relief pitchers, but Reyes has been horrible through the first 6 games allowing.  It comes as no surprise that Reyes will be designated for assignment.  He has faced 10 batters in 5 games and allowed 6 to reach base.  That is not what anybody is looking for in their bullpen.

This was kind of surprising though after Reyes' spring.  He pitched very well during spring training and even beat out Alfredo Aceves for that last bullpen spot.  But this once again proves that spring training numbers mean nothing.
Countdown for Jeter

• Jeter only needs 69 more hits before he hits 3000!